This invention generally relates to cooking/food processing apparatuses. More specifically, this invention relates to automatic fry apparatuses.
Fried foods, such as fried shrimp, fried fish, fried chicken, etc., are tasteful. Two of the most important characteristics of fried foods are: outside, golden and crispy; and inside, juicy and tender. There are some issues associated with preparing fried foods at home.
First, the contact of moisture-containing raw foods with hot oil produces grease splattering. Most times, the splattering liquids and food particles reach out of fry apparatuses to considerable distances. These will not only mess up stovetops and surrounding surfaces but also create undue oil burn injuries to the people who are preparing fried foods. The problem of grease fires in the kitchen as well as severe oil burns to people has been well documented.
Second, oil vapor is produced when oil is heated. The people who are preparing fried foods involuntarily inhale considerable amount of cooking fumes during the cooking process. Oil vapor is harmful to human health and might pose long-term health threats to the people who expose themselves to oil vapor on a very regular base.
Third, the oil vapor generated in the cooking process might easily reach much farther in the kitchen or even other rooms and deposit on the furniture, paintings, electrical appliances, etc., thereby causing long-term hazards to home environment.
Fourth, on the other hand, there is an ever-increasing concern over the amount of oil or fat in one""s diet for general public. In particular, a low fat diet is desirable in light of the related health concerns. Generally, fried foods contain more fat than other foods.
Many products of deep-frying apparatuses or food processing apparatuses are on the market, including the electric frying apparatus taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,878, issued to Lau, on Apr. 2, 2002. These products are equipped with vertically moving baskets only and generally require the food to be immersed deep in the frying oil; which means that large quantity of oil is required. The high quantity of oil needed for proper cooking also means high operating cost due to high power consumption and longer time for cooking. The quantity of oil absorption by the food is prohibitively high, as well.
The disposal of used oil is going to be an environmental issue. Food processing businesses or restaurants might be able to afford expensive equipment for the disposal or treatment of used oil. But general public will find it difficult in dealing with large quantity of used oil.
Another issue is that the user has to repeatedly stir or turn the food around to separate the food pieces during frying, such that the food can be cooked more uniformly.
Over years, various devices have been developed to address these problems associated with frying at home.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/249,240, filed by myself, on Mar. 25, 2003, teaches a forced venting fry utensil. The fry utensil comprises a container for holding and frying foods, a lid covering on the top of the container, a blowing device for blowing fresh air into the fry utensil for facilitating the evaporation of food moisture, and a venting device for filtering and deodorizing the cooking fumes.
The aforementioned prior art is concentrating on the issue of the splattering of hot grease and food particles and cooking fumes treatment. However, It fails to address the necessity of automating the frying process. Without frying process automation, especially at home, consumers have to stir the food or turn the food over in the middle of frying processes. In this case, the generation of hot oil splattering and the escape of oil vapor into the room are still inevitable.
Some patents have been granted in the area of automatic frying apparatuses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,697, issued to De Longhi, on Jul. 2, 1991, teaches a-rotating oblique basket fryer for cyclic immersion cooking; which facilitates the elimination of moisture in the food, accelerates the heat exchange process, and favors uniform operating temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,166, issued to Masel, et al., on Aug. 6, 1996, describes a cooking appliance including a drum for receiving the food articles to be cooked. The appliance is characterized in that the finished food is spun about a central axis to spin out unwanted excess of oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,265, issued to Ronci et al., on Mar. 18, 1997, describes a combination of fryer and charbroiler food cooking apparatus. The excessive oil is separated from the fried foods by using a centrifugal means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,801, issued to Masel, et al., on Sep. 24, 2002, teaches a cooking appliance and method for cooking food articles by means of a rotary drum. The appliance is characterized in that a liquid container is selectively movable to a raised or lowered position to adjust the oil level with respect to the food articles.
The aforementioned prior arts are concentrating on automatic frying apparatuses with special emphasis on the low fat frying. The low fat characteristic is mostly achieved by mechanical means, that""s centrifugal means. This makes the prior art apparatuses less appealing because the mechanical separation device generally requires a large size of the frying apparatus. The manufacturing cost is higher and consequently the higher prices the general public pays to buy these apparatuses. Another reason why these prior art apparatuses do not prevail lies on the fact that the mechanisms for achieving targeted objectives are, to some extent, too complicated, which, again, drives up the manufacturing cost. The effort spent on cleaning these apparatuses after use is another important factor. In addition, they fail to address the issue of cooking fumes hazards.
Low fat frying can be, alternatively, achieved by means of how the food is processed. The key point is that the moisture content residing in the raw food, especially in the surfaces of food pieces, has to be removed as quickly as possible. The removal of the surface moisture content greatly favors less fat absorption, less time and energy consumption for frying, and foods of great looking and taste.
Therefore, it remains desirable to provide fry apparatuses that can be used to prepare tasteful fried foods, that are automatic to minimize the human involvement or chore during the frying process, that favors homogeneous heating of foods, that require minimal quantity of oil for frying foods, that can effectively and efficiently evaporate the surface moisture content of food pieces to achieve the characteristic of low fat absorption, great looking and taste of foods, that are inexpensive to manufacture and simple and easy to use, and also that are environment, people, and home friendly.
Accordingly, the present invention is an automatic fry apparatus. This fry apparatus comprises a container for holding and heating oil, a lid for covering the container, a perforated rotary drum removably installed inside the container for holding and frying foods, a motor operationally coupled with the rotary drum through a transmission assembly for rotating the drum, a blowing device for blowing fresh air into the fry apparatus to facilitate the evaporation of the moisture content residing in the surfaces of food pieces, and a venting device for filtering and deodorizing the cooking fumes.
The rotary drum is partially immersed in the boiling oil, and therefore, less oil is required for frying foods. When the drum rotates, the food pieces therein are automatically separated and stirred, thereby facilitating homogeneous heating. The frying process is fully automatic and requires minimal human involvement and chore.
Accordingly, the followings are some of the objects, features, and advantages of the present invention:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus for use to prepare tasteful fried foods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus that are automatic to minimize the human involvement or chore during the frying process.
It is a further more object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus that require minimal quantity of oil for frying foods, and consequently less energy consumption, less used oil for disposal, and less time for cooking.
It is a still further more object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus that automatically separates and stirs food pieces to facilitate moisture evaporation and uniform heating.
It is yet a still further more object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus that is of durable and reliable constructions, easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed, and at the same time economically available to the general public.
It is yet a still further more object of the present invention to provide a fry apparatus that is environment, people, and home friendly.
It is a feature of the present invention that this fry apparatus has a perforated rotary drum installed inside a container for holding and frying foods. A motor is provided to rotate this rotary drum. When the drum rotates, the food pieces therein are automatically separated and stirred.
It is another feature of the present invention that the rotary drum is partially immersed in the boiling oil, thereby reducing the requirement on the quantity of oil for frying foods, and consequently less energy consumption and less used oil for disposal.
It is a further more feature of the present invention that this fry apparatus has a container having a semi-cylindrical bottom generally following the profile of the rotary drum, thereby further reducing the requirement on the quantity of oil for frying foods.
It is a still further more feature of the present invention that this fry apparatus fries foods in a programmed automatic manner; therefore, minimal human involvement or chore is rendered.
It is yet a still further more feature of the present invention that this fry apparatus has a blowing device to force fresh air into the fry apparatus for facilitating moisture removal inside the apparatus and in the surfaces of food pieces and a venting device for removing the oil vapor content in the grease-laden air generated during the frying process before the air is exhausted into the room.
It is an advantage of the present invention that this fry apparatus is virtually hand-free for frying foods.
It is another advantage of the present invention that this fry apparatus can be easily adapted for either stove heating or electric heating, thereby giving consumers more options of use.
It is a further more advantage of the present invention that this fry apparatus is environment, people, and home friendly.
It is a still further more advantage of the present invention that this fry apparatus is easy to operate, cheap to manufacture, and providing large value to businesses and general public.
Further more features and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood after reading the subsequent description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.